my bad, i didn't know you've been in the fleet flying fighters since 1988.
if, on the other hand, you enlisted in 1988 but have only been flying the SH for a few months now, which is what i suspect is the case here, then i stand by what i said ... you shouldn't be making blanket statements which include dudes who have a shitmore fleet time flying fighters than you do ... that is fine in the RAG amongst your bros, but some dudes in a real gun squadron might take it personally, kinda like you think you are all knowing since you are flying the SH instead of an old Hornet, when we all know up to this point that it's luck of the draw for Squids coming out of Advanced jets. if you call guys flying old hornets "JV", what do you call Prowlers & Viking's?
i have been in the Corps since 91, only been flying since '00, and i think i fly a better jet than a Harrier, but that, in my professional opinion, does not allow me to call those guys JV (unless it's to one of my Harrier bros & we are talking shit to each other). airframe aside, i have no doubt that there are pilots out there flying Harriers that are better at flying than i am. are they JV? or did they select at the wrong time coming out of advanced?
the SH is a better aircraft than the old hornets in that they are new, have better avionics than what is found in most old hornets (most avionics on Supers can be found in Lot 17 or greater C/D's, problem is most of the hornets in the fleet are < Lot 17), and few "improvements" that aren't found in the old hornet, better performance not being one of them ... in the end though, it comes down to the pilot, whether it's Strike or ACM/BFM, i'd wager my $$ on that "JV" 600 hr F/A-18C driver over that <100 hour SH driver ...
just my 2¢, take it for what it's worth
.... I'm surrounded.
